Progress in Practice – A Sustainability Podcast

Most of us think about what goes into making wine. Very few of us think about what comes out. Behind the scenes, every winery is managing significant waste streams — grape skins, fermentation lees, and large volumes of water used to clean tanks and equipment throughout the process. For years, this wastewater was one of the wine industry's less glamorous challenges. At Rose Family Estate in Marlbor...

What does a circular economy actually look like in practice for a children's clothing brand? Not in theory. Not in a strategy document. But in the messy, energising, sometimes frustrating reality of running a retail brand — managing teams, navigating logistics, and trying to change the way your customers think and behave? That's the question at the heart of this episode, and Jacob Faull answers it...

Every year, thousands of square metres of flooring are ripped up from offices, hospitals, schools and commercial buildings across New Zealand — and the vast majority of it ends up in landfill. It's a quiet but significant waste problem that most people in the construction and fitout industry simply accept as the cost of doing business. Jacobsen didn't accept it. In this episode of Progress in Prac...

Road cones. New Zealanders love to hate them. But until recently, when they wore out, they went straight to landfill. RTL decided to change that — and built the country's first fully closed-loop cone recycling programme to prove it. Road cones are one of New Zealand's most visible — and most complained about — pieces of infrastructure. Media coverage, talkback radio, and even politicians regularly...

A small regional airport. A 15-hectare solar farm. 96% of the electricity going straight to the national grid. This is what commercial ambition meets community purpose looks like. What does it take for a regional airport to become a significant contributor to New Zealand's renewable energy grid? New Plymouth Airport CEO David Scott has a practical answer: vision, commercial discipline, and a willi...

What happens to a garment when it truly reaches the end of its life? For most fashion brands, the answer is landfill. For Wellington-based label Kowtow, the answer is something far more ambitious: transform it into biochar, and put it back into the earth. In this episode of Progress in Practice, Go Well Consulting's Nick Morrison sits down with Emma Wallace, Managing Director of Kowtow, to explore...